Why
by BlackBee
Summary: A six-year-old Naruto questions Kyuubi and as a result gains a new friend. Friendship fic! Threeshot.
1. Chapter 1

Surprise!

Yay I'm back :)! First off let me say that this is a NEW surprise(as in one I haven't warned you about on my profile lol). To keep this top A/N short, please see the end A/N for an update on all my stories!

Now as for this story, this will be part of a series of 'prompt stories'. I'm going around the Internet looking for prompts to use as inspiration for writing. This piece was inspired by the 10_prompts community over at LJ(but this isn't an official thing. I'm just using the random words lol. I used 'Why?' and 'Cell' for this one).

This'll be a three-shot. No romance, just friendship(cause Naruto's too young in this one lol). And of course, the focus is all on Naruto and Kyuubi(told in Kyuubi's POV).

Please enjoy!

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There Naruto was, standing in front of his cage in all his short-legged glory. The little brat displayed no fear typical for his age and species. Kyuubi wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that he, the great beast who could easily gobble him up, was behind the cell and Naruto wasn't.

If so then that was a shame. Kyuubi at least wanted to scare his new vessel with what _could_ happen. But he can't trick Naruto if he already knows the truth about his situation. Judging by the glare on his face, the righteous anger in his big, blue eyes, Naruto also knew who he was as well. Or at least, he knew what the humans told him. Standing as tall as his 6-year-old body could with his arms crossed squarely across his chest, he looked just like one of them. Specifically, the one that got him into this particular situation in the first place. The intimidating factor however was diminished by the fact that, one he was a human child. And two, the kid has done nothing except glare at him for the past two minutes.

Kyuubi knew what was going on. His vessel had absolutely no idea what he was doing here and was trying to look tough and not-at-all-scared until a sign or something appeared. To be fair, Kyuubi had no idea what Naruto was doing here either. His life wasn't in any danger and although the kid definitely wasn't happy when he showed up, he wasn't I-gotta-kill-something angry either. One moment there was nothing in front of his cage, the next his vessel shows up looking around curiously before noticing him and adopting that stance.

Holding back a sigh, the giant fox demon decided to do something. Naruto acting this way was boring and so the faster he leaves, the faster he can get back to sleep.

**"What exactly are you waiting for? Me to do a trick?"**

There was an ounce of pleasure to be had when Naruto dropped the tough guy act and jumped like a scared, little rabbit. He stood hunched over now and stared half curiously half fearfully up at him. He spoke barely above a mumble.

"Oh. You can talk?"

**"Obviously," **Kyuubi scoffed, as if Naruto was the biggest idiot on the planet for believing otherwise. Naruto was too young, or perhaps too oblivious(to put it nicely) to pick up on the demon's insulting tone. When blue eyes glared into his red ones, the words his young vessel spoke sounded rehearsed and all too familiar.

"I hate you! You're a monster who only hurts and kills people for fun! Everyone would be better off if you were dead!"

Of course, Kyuubi inwardly rolled his eyes. He didn't really understand the concept of impressionable youth or the idea of little humans copying their elders, but he felt he didn't need to. Humans were all the same and Naruto would be no different whether he was six, sixteen, or even sixty.

Nothing new. Nothing special. And so in this dark, dank cell, Kyuubi laid down and attempted to go to sleep.

"Hey! Why are you ignoring me!?" He heard the brat shout. But he completely ignored him. As of now, Kyuubi lost all interest in Naruto and whatever he had to say. It'd be no different than what he previously had to experience and because of these bars he could literally do nothing about it.

"Stop ignoring me! Say something!"

Besides, he knew his vessel. One of the worst things you could do to the blond was ignore him. Kyuubi will do just that, because it is more effective than any growl or threat he could make, until Naruto gets the hint and leaves.

Kyuubi heard his tiny human feet stomp in the water and his suddenly louder voice start complaining.

"I said something and now you gotta talk back! I hate you! You're a monster! You should be dead! Now say something!"

Kyuubi didn't. He kept quiet all throughout Naruto's rant. He kept quiet as Naruto stomped more, as he yelled louder, as his face turned red from anger, and even as he smelled the tiniest trickle of salt water coming from the eyes of boy who was too often neglected. Eventually Naruto quieted down and just sat on his bottom, sniffling and glaring at Kyuubi.

The fox honestly couldn't figure out what Naruto expected from him. The brat insulted him and spoke lowly of his existence, and now he was upset that Kyuubi wasn't paying attention to him? Just because Naruto responded all too quickly to those statements against his own person, doesn't mean Kyuubi will do the same.

The silent treatment between the two carried on for a while. At some point Kyuubi wondered why Naruto was still hanging around him instead of wandering off and exploring other parts of this place, but he never asked or pointed this out. Finally, after what felt like hours, Kyuubi heard Naruto fall asleep. It was then that he peeked one open and looked at the brat curled up on the floor in a manner similar to his own sleeping position. Right before his eyes Naruto disappeared.

Kyuubi didn't bother wondering or caring where he went. He only wondered if his new, bratty vessel would ever show up in front of his cell again. But he quickly shrugged and decided it didn't matter. Like he wanted to deal with another human anyway.

* * *

And done!

Yeah this is actually pretty short for me lol. But the next bit should be a bit longer.

So about my stories:

EDIT: I managed to get all of my stuff back with the help of my computer genius mom :).


	2. Chapter 2

And here is part 2!

I will do my best to update daily. Shouldn't be hard lol.

So I have to give some credit to TigrezzTail for the ending of this one. Her review inspired me to do some more fleshing out and make a little change that I am very satisfied with(and I hope you will be too)!

Please enjoy!

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The passage of time couldn't be accurately told by Kyuubi. There was no clock where he was and so unless he wanted to constantly count the seconds, he had no idea what time it was.

The only way he could even tell time was still moving was by peeking through his vessel's eyes and seeing him move about. Kyuubi had noticed that in the past however amount of time it has been, Naruto has been moving around a lot. Being a fox, he had a curious nature and did want to know what his vessel was up to. But his demonic nature also urged him not to care unless it affected him in some way.

So he ignored his curiosity and continued to ignore it until the moment Naruto appeared in front of his cell again. It was a shock to the giant beast because the brat looked no older than he had when they first met. Kyuubi figured he would be much bigger by the time they met up again. But he hid his shock with a large malicious grin.

**"Back again?"**

"Yeah," the little boy mumbled. Naruto looked incredibly nervous unlike before when he looked afraid but curious. He was shuffling from one foot to the other, avoiding looking in Kyuubi's eyes, and wringing his hands behind his back.

"I have something I need to tell you. So please listen to me and don't ignore me this time."

Please? The kid actually said 'please'? To him? He's heard it before but in those situations they were screams and pleads for mercy, not to listen. Either way, Naruto expected to him to listen and he did, because then the blond shouted words he _hadn't_ heard before.

"I'm sorry!"

Kyuubi was stunned into silence. He scarcely had a clue as to why Naruto would utter those words to him. Why Naruto of all people. He didn't have time to try and hide the shock that appeared on his face for Naruto continued. He blushed heavily and pushed his index fingers together in front of him in a typical guilty manner, but he looked Kyuubi in the eye.

"I heard all of that stuff about you from people. But people also lied to me about a lot of stuff before and they did it again. So maybe they were lying about you too?"

Kyuubi doesn't really know what to say to the blond. The ability to speak left him as he tried to figure out what exactly Naruto was trying to do here. Apologies were very foreign to him, and someone expressing regret for _hating_ him was practically unheard of. Unless Naruto was only apologizing for the words he spoke in haste the last time he visited. But what could've brought about this change in attitude?

If Naruto knew about him before, then does this mean that he just learned now about their connection of sorts and how he held Kyuubi's life in his hands? Was he attempting to get on Kyuubi's good side solely for favors to be made later?

The thought wasn't at all pleasant to Kyuubi. He inwardly growled at the thought of being used again. He was about to lash out at the tiny human, ready to make him feel very, very, very glad that these bars stood in-between them when Naruto finally spoke again.

"I get you're mad at me," his tone was heavy with regret and went back down to a mumble. "But I really am sorry. I'm sorry I judged you because of what people said and not because I know you. I know how much that hurts. So I really am sorry."

The strongest of the tailed beasts was stunned yet again. Naruto sounded so eerily _genuine_. Not about to let another pause of silence pass between them, Naruto continued talking. But this time, he started walking towards Kyuubi's cage while he was at it.

"Everyone says you're a hateful beast but I don't get it. How do they know what you are? You can't do bad things when you're stuck in here and behind those bars right? So why do people keep saying you're bad when you can't do anything bad?"

This little motormouth didn't even give Kyuubi a chance to answer. As his expression got more and more curious, he continued asking more and more questions. Never pausing and never stopping his walk towards the demon.

"I know you attacked the village so long ago, but did you have a reason? Everyone has a reason for doing this. I used to think everyone hated me for no reason. But then I found out about you and I realized they did have a reason; even though it's a bad one. So you must have a reason too for doing what you did right?"

At this point, Naruto finally stopped. He was standing right in front of the bars, craning his neck back to stare up at Kyuubi. As he tilted his head in confusion to ask his final questions, his blue eyes never left his red ones.

"Why did you attack Konoha? Did they do something bad to you first?"

After that there was silence. Because Kyuubi didn't know at all how to react. Here was Naruto, his third vessel who doubles as a stupid, little kid, doing what no human has ever done and trying to know _his_ side of the story. Was he really attempting to get to the root of the problem? And why now? Why did this child suddenly care? He found out people lie? Big whoop ALL humans lie. Mankind has been lying since his time! They've always done that, it's always been done, and Kyuubi could hardly believe that realizing that commonly known fact could cause such a turn around. Even in an impressionable youth like his vessel.

So baring his large fangs he growled menacingly. Not even the spike of fear that Naruto exhibited gave him the usual thrill. He was too angry.

**"Insolent brat!"** He roared sending Naruto back several feet. **"If you can't even understand the most basic thing about your species then what makes you think you can understand what happened to me!"**

"Sp-Species?" Naruto stuttered, shivering from where he stood in fear.

**"**_**Humans,"**_Kyuubi practically spat out. He also unconsciously raked his claws against the bars in front of them. Imagine if instead of hunks of metal they were the ones that got him into this mess. Each and every one of those fleshbags, ready to be taken down by his wrath.

Naruto stayed silent but his eyes looked big and watery. Kyuubi smelled the familiar scent of salt water and was prepared for Naruto to cry silently and glare at him again. But he wasn't prepared for Naruto to burst into loud wails.

"WAAAAAAAAH! I hate you! You scared me!" He cried bringing his tiny fists to his eyes. The sobs were loud and murderous on Kyuubi's ears.

"I did something wrong, but I said sorry for it! But you still don't like me! That's why I don't do it! No one ever accepts me and-and-and you're no different!"

Unlike before when he sat in front of his cell, this time Naruto turn around and ran away. Down the dark, sewer-like hallway, he ran until Kyuubi couldn't see him anymore. But he could hear the boy's cries echo down to his chamber. He flattened his ears down in an attempt to drown out the sound but it did him no good. For some reason he could hear the cries still ringing in his head. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth and attempted to think of something else, but every thought just led back to those sobs.

And that wasn't all. He also heard the words. 'I hate you' appeared a lot along with 'no one accepts me'. But the phrase that appeared the most was 'you're no different'.

_He _was no different? From the people surrounding his brat? That's preposterous! Kyuubi snarled at the mere thought! They were humans! Ignorant and stupid! And he was a demon! The one suffering from their blindness and pursuit of power! How the hell were they the same!

He wasn't so obsessed with the power that he disregarded someone's mere existence! And his treatment of others-his treatment of Naruto wasn't ideal but it wasn't...It wasn't...

Oh.

* * *

And done!

Kyuubi realizes he committed a big 'oops' at the end lol. Next chapter is the last chapter and it will involve another apology and the blossoming of a new friendship between vessel and demon :).

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the final chapter!

Promised to update daily and I have two minutes left at least :D!. Good news! Check my profile!

For now please enjoy!

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Being told off by a 6-year-old, a human child. Now that was a humbling experience if nothing else. He couldn't even bring himself to look through Naruto's eyes anymore because the one time he did, Naruto was bawling his eyes out. He didn't know if those tears were related to their fight or something else had happened because he quickly backed off when his...heart(for lack of a better word) started stinging.

Having nothing else to do other than to think and sleep, Kyuubi dwelled on Naruto's words and cries. He was a prideful demon, but he could recognize the truth when he heard it. And Naruto, he HAD to admit, spoke the truth.

He said it himself he _knew_ his vessel. And so he also knew that the six-year-old couldn't have had any malicious intentions when he strolled in here apologizing and asking question after question about the tailed beast. So Naruto's words, Kyuubi had to grudgingly(and a bit guiltily) admit were warranted.

Naruto could hate him this time around because he did hurt the kid on his own free will. And he could feel that no accepted him because Kyuubi certainly didn't accept his apology at that time. And, this was the absolute _**hardest**_ for him to admit, he was 'no different' because he brushed the blond's existence off without reason by ignoring him the first time. And even when the kid tried to make amends he still reacted with hostility.

No different indeed.

Kyuubi couldn't ignore his guilt once he realized that. He wasn't a pitying kind of demon even knowing that Naruto deserved it. No, Kyuubi shook his head. Naruto deserved sympathy, not pity. But knowing that and feeling guilty about it doesn't help him at all because he can't do anything about it. He could if the seal was weaker, but it was as strong as it can be right now and so any interaction between them had to be initiated by Naruto.

And could he trust a pouting 6-year-old to come back to him on his own free will?

Kyuubi honestly believed the answer to that would be no. But this vessel, if nothing else, was unpredictable. And he was very, very surprising. Funny how for the past several decades luck hasn't been on Kyuubi's side. Now the one time he decided to do something nice for another person, suddenly he gets what he wants.

Naruto was suddenly standing in front of his cage. Still six. Still short. Still pouting and glaring.

He was standing several yards away from his cell with his arms crossed and he didn't look like he wanted to more or talk. So Kyuubi made the first move once again.

**"Back **_**again**_** so soon? I'm starting to think you enjoy coming here," **Kyuubi made sure to keep his tone light and joking. He didn't really know how to express how relieved he was that Naruto came back so quickly.

"I'm not here because I like you."

Kyuubi showed no visible reaction. Understandable. But he was here and that's what mattered.

"I want an apolology!" Naruto shouted stomping forward. "You hurted my feelings yesterday! And so-so if you apolologize I-I will give you ONE," Naruto held up one finger, "more chance!"

**"Hm?" **Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. It sounded like Naruto was giving him a chance to earn forgiveness but he just wanted to be sure. Naruto crossed his little arms and glared up at him. Kyuubi will admit a small amount of pride surged through him at Naruto's bravery. Clearly the kid wasn't scared anymore.

"I'll forgive you if you forgive me and say you're sorry for what you said. I'll be your friend and you'll be my friend IF you say sorry to me and MEAN it!"

**"Friends huh? Are you sure you that's what you're looking for and not someone to listen to your whining?" **He teased. No he was not stalling his apology. Just because he has never said it before didn't mean he was afraid to say it. He did need to say it and he knew that. It's just...well tease Naruto first.

"That's not true! I'll listen to your whining! Tell me how much you hate the elbow room in there and I'll listen," Naruto said. He ran up until he was half way to Kyuubi's cage.

"My place is small so when I jump on the bed I bump my head on the ceiling and it hurts. You don't even have a bed to jump on! Tell me can your tails even breathe back there?"

Kyuubi didn't know what amused him more, the fact that Naruto forgot what he came for? Or how this little chatterbag was once again talking so much, Kyuubi couldn't even get a word in.

"Tell me about your problems and I'll listen because friends listen to each other's problems."

**"Oh we're friends now? Funny I haven't even apologized yet."**

The look on Naruto's face was priceless. His little jaw dropped before he pouted and glared and turned around.

"No! We are not friends until you apolologize!"

Kyuubi let out a deep chuckle at that. Their third interaction and already Naruto was proving to be much more entertaining than Mito and Kushina combined. Maybe he really did make a mistake when he brushed Naruto off due to lack of interest. It was time to stop beating around the bush.

**"I'm not one to usually say Such Odd Rigorous Rambling Yet, it is appropriate now isn't it?" **Alright maybe _one_ last poke.

Naruto faced him and blinked confusedly. "What?"

**"Such Odd Rigorous Rambling Yet."**

"Riga-ramba-who?"

**"The first letter in each word kid."**

"I don't get it." Kyuubi surprises himself by not getting mad or annoyed. Instead he finds it...funny. He even lets out a little snicker.

**"It's a joke."**

Naruto smiled widely. "You're joking with me? Like friends!?" Then he quickly frowns. "Well you can't yet. Not until you say-"

**"I'm sorry. Okay? Sorry for getting mad at you for being curious and doubting or whatever. I'm sorry for not treating you different. Happy?"**

"Yes!" Naruto shouted throwing his hands up in the air, a big, wide, happy smile on his face. "Now tell me the joke!"

Kyuubi would've, but now that their argument was over and things were okay between them he was feeling kind of lazy. He yawned and laid down. **"Another time kid. Maybe when you're older and can read books that don't have pictures in them."**

"I've already started that," Naruto said proudly. But thanks to his short attention span, the little blond let go of the subject. "Hey since we're friends now can you listen to me? Guess what?"

**"What?"**

"A few days I ran out of my favorite ramen! How did that happen?! I'm only one person!" As Naruto went into his chatter mode, ranting about how food in his place always mysteriously vanishes, Kyuubi hid a smile.

Here was another living being, jabbering to him about something pointless, as a friend. Maybe one day he'll tell Naruto that occasionally Kyuubi's appetite will get in the way causing Naruto to be hungrier than usual. But the specifics of their connection can really be brought up at another time.

For now it would be great if they could just learn to enjoy each other's company, though they've probably got several years to do this. Either way, Kyuubi didn't mind now.

Spending time with the one forgiving human who asked questions; that was alright with him.

* * *

And done!

Yay Kyuubi and Naruto made up :D! Not really much to say other than I'm happy I completed another multichaptered story :).

Please tell me what you think!


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